Sins of the Father
by DarthGabithaTheHutt
Summary: John makes use of unconventional methods to find the demon that killed his wife, leaving Dean in a difficult position. Pre-series, no pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: John makes use of unconventional methods to find the demon that killed his wife, leaving Dean in a difficult position while Sara discovers more about her family. Pre-series, no pairings.

This story involves Sara Lucian, a character from most of my other Supernatural stories. Sara is a friend (and nothing more) of Dean who specialises in exorcisms and was trained by her mother, just as Dean was trained by John. Reading the other stories is probably not essential to understand this one.

The next chapter should be up in a week. Reviews are hugely appreciated.

xxx

New York State,

August 2004,

John Winchester sat alone in a corner of the bar, a glass of scotch in front of him. This place, with its live band and almost obnoxiously cheerful clientele, wasn't the sort that John would have normally chosen. But then, this wasn't exactly a normal situation.

Twenty-one years. It had been almost twenty-one years since Mary had died, burnt to a crisp right above him. Since John had found out that every time he'd told his son that there was no monster under the bed or in the closet, he'd been lying. Since John had started a crusade, a quest, a whatever-this-was to kill the evil son of a bitch who had killed his wife and destroyed his family and future.

And all of that would have been a lot less aggravating to John if he had something to show for almost two decades of hunting. While he had managed to find allies, keep his sons safe, save God only knew how many people, he had yet to find out anything about the demon that had killed Mary. You'd think pinning someone to the ceiling and setting them on fire would be a unique enough MO, but no one John had ever found had had any idea about what demon did that, let alone how to find it.

Thorough research of his own had revealed a spate of other nursery fires, all on the kid's six month birthday, all of them in, as far as he could see, the year after Mary's death. Whatever the demon had been doing, it seemed to have stopped years ago, but John was certain it was still around. All he had to do was find it, and then it was going to pay.

It was due to the current impossibility of finding the demon that John was even here in the first place. If his information was correct – and it probably was, Bobby Singer was called the best for a reason – there was someone here who could help him. And John had just the right leverage to make sure he got what he wanted.

As the band finally shut up and got off the stage, John drained his glass and slipped through out of the door, heading around to the back of the building. Singer had warned him about this guy's paranoia, and John could understand why, but he didn't have the time or the patience to deal with it properly. Slipping in through the back door, he made his way to the room where he'd been told the lead singer of the band would be.

The door opened just as he reached it. "You must be Winchester."

John nodded. "You Li?"

"Yeah," the man replied. "Come on in."

He did so, taking a moment to appraise his new-found source. Li didn't look at all Chinese, which meant the name was probably short for something. Tall, slim build, blonde hair with just a trace of red-gold. Tanned skin, wary eyes. Not a Hunter, although that was more a guess than an observation.

"Bobby tell you why I came?"

Li nodded. "Yeah. Also told me I should feel free to, and I quote, 'fill you full of buckshot'."

"We've had our differences," John agreed. "Gotta say, I was surprised to find that a Hunter knew how to find me a Deathwalker."

"I can't help your prejudices. So I can go past the River Styx and back at will, big deal. Doesn't make me any less human. And if you're here to try and kill me, can we get it over with? I've got things to do."

"I need your help."

"Yeah, gathered that much from Singer," Li replied. "And what you're asking isn't easy."

"All I want is for you to go into the Underworld and find me someone who was killed by this demon."

"And I can't do that, Winchester. I can only find the spirits that I know, and believe me, none of my people were ever killed by the guy who went after you."

"So how do you explain all the help you gave to Amelia Lucian over the years?"

It was a dangerous move, John knew. Amelia Lucian had once been a valued member of the Hunting community, holding the undisputed title of Best Exorcist. But she had died almost two years previously, and John had been sorry to see her go. Although, not as sorry as Li had been, John was sure.

Li crossed his arms. "Well, she did say you were a nosy bastard."

"She told you about me?" John asked.

"Yeah. Told me if you ever turned up, I should start running afore you got out of your truck. You have quite the way with people," Li said with a sardonic smile. "She never trusted you, if that's what you were asking."

"Same goes for you."

"I was never a threat to her."

"What about to her daughter?"

"Nor to the little one, neither. Now, you quite done rattling my cage?"

"So how did you help Amelia?"

"Doesn't matter. The ritual I used to get her information won't work anymore." Li caught John's look. "Okay, fine. Instead of going to the Happy Hunting Grounds, I went into Hell once or twice. It's not something I would recommend, and it's not something I can do without someone who has some sorta relationship with me to stand on the banks of the River Styx and help me get back. Happy now?"

John nodded slowly. "Gettin' there."

xxx

Black Earth, Wisconsin

"Are they still at it?"

Dean turned to glance out of the kitchen window. "Yep. That makes it, what, forty minutes?"

"At least," Will Atwood replied, glancing through one of the heaps of paper that was currently covering the kitchen table.

"I don't get it," Dean said absently. "I mean, sparring, I get. Target practice, I get. I don't get fencing."

Out on the grass behind the house, Sara Lucian blocked a strike from Adrian, Will's older brother. Both were armed with efficient looking swords and, even more bizarrely, both were grinning.

Will shrugged. He was more than used to his brother's quirks, and the two Atwoods had been friends with Sara for well over a decade. Dean was the newcomer, at least speaking relatively he was. He'd known Sara for six years, been working with her full-time for almost two, but he still wasn't used to this skill of hers.

"Where the hell did she even learn to do that?"

"School, I think," Will said. "Least, they've been doing that ever since I knew her. Shouldn't you be used to it already?"

"Used to a pair of 21st century Hunters kicking the shit out of each other with broadswords?"

Will grinned. "Okay, I'll admit it's a little odd. But wasn't Sara telling me yesterday that you made your first sawn-off in eighth grade?"

"Sixth, actually. But shotguns are way more practical than swords."

"Firstly, I've never heard of a sword running out of ammo at a crucial moment. And secondly, you're just annoyed that she can whup your ass with medieval weaponry." Will paused. "Dean, is Sara okay?"

It was Dean's turn to shrug. The last year had been a little hectic, including the two of them having to dig up every single person who had died in a bus crash, and although they had tried to see the Atwoods at least once a month, they hadn't always managed long visits, normally just staying long enough for Sara to swop a few reference books and do this little sparring ritual with Adrian. Will's question was certainly a valid one. Dean just wasn't sure about how to form a valid answer. Since witnessing Sara perform an exorcism a year before, the first time he'd ever seen her do that, Dean had had a few moments for concern over the last twelve months. Mostly just after the few exorcisms Sara had done. But she was getting better at that. He thought.

"Dude, we all have bad days," he said finally. Every Hunter had something they couldn't stand. For Dean, it was kids being involved. The only problem was that Sara's aversion sometimes seemed to be the exorcisms she had dedicated her life to. "She ain't about to leap into any hell dimensions or anything."

"Not without her little terrier following her, at any rate."

"Little?"

Will grinned again. "Come on, help me take this stuff outside."

Dean grabbed an armful of Will's notes and followed him outside. The Atwoods' house was just outside Black Earth, and the two brothers had lived there for years. It was pleasantly lived-in, unlike many Hunters' homes, and Sara's had moved in after her mother's death. She'd then gone on to live on the road with Dean, but she still thought of this place as 'home'. Dean had been dragged in not entirely against his will.

"Oi!" he yelled. "Adrian, stop beating up Sara. I need her fit to hunt."

Sara finished the bout by tripping Adrian up and yanking his sword from his hand before sticking her tongue out at Dean and helping Adrian back to his feet. The two of them walked to the wooden deck where Will was laying out his notes. The younger Atwood had become a skilled tracker over the years, and they'd all agreed to let him deal with the actual details of any hunt involving either Atwood.

This one, though, this one involved all four of them.

"Okay, little brother," Adrian sat, sitting down on the deck's chunky railing. The nickname gave Dean a brief pang of longing, but Sam had been gone for two years. The ache was still there, but dulled. "Earn your keep."

"Alright. Wyoming. Suspicious deaths, specifically, in Wyoming."

"It's always suspicious deaths," Sara said, mock sadly. "Why can't we go somewhere for a swop-meet?"

Will glared at her, albeit affectionately. "Shut it. Suspicious deaths," he repeated.

"Yes, we know," Dean said.

"Fine. Werewolves."

Dean actually whooped.

"And you say I'm ridiculous about this sort of thing," Adrian said.

Sara hit Dean smartly on the arm. "So... werewolves?"

"Yep. Good news, we've got more'n week 'till the next full moon. Once the moon's out, we have three days to find and smoke the bad doggies."

"Bad news?"

"Judging from the tracks, the reports, the death rates, it's not just one or two. We're talking about a whole pack. Maybe a dozen wolves in all, but it's very unlikely to be any more than that."

"So that's why you wanted me and Sara here?" Dean said.

"Well, it wasn't for your sparkling conversation."

"Ingrate," Sara said. "Okay, so lots of werewolves. Lots of silver bullets?"

"It is traditional. Do we have enough?" Adrian asked.

"A few magazines each, 9mm. That should be enough, right?"

"Four of us, a few full magazines, a dozen or more werewolves. Sounds about right," Dean said. "Sara? What're you thinking?"

"Hunting rifle. Might be able to pick a few off from a serious distance."

Adrian nodded slowly, thinking it through. "We have to get them all in one night, realistically speaking. Once a few are down and the others figure it out, they'll scatter. Taking a few out with minimal risk to ourselves, always a bonus. Dean, you're the resident sharp-shooter-"

"-Not to mention, the owner of one truly awesome rifle-" Will added.

"-So do you want to handle this side of things?" Adrian finished.

Dean nodded. "Teams of two. Use the daylight to scope out the area, find their hunting ground." He paused. "Tell me they're not in a city."

"Nah. One of the mountain ranges, but in the lowlands. Few camping grounds around, so easy hunting for the wolves."

"Missing campers?"

"Yeah. Well, some missing-presumed-dead, some others were found... Well, most of them were found," Will said, pulling a list out from one of the piles.

"Tore apart, eaten?"

"Tooth-marks," Will confirmed. "I have autopsy photos, if anyone really wants to see."

Dean waved the offer off. "Spare me."

"Do we know what kind of werewolves they are?" Sara asked. "Standard issue or lupe garou?" 

"Doesn't matter. Either they have no idea what they're doing, in which we gotta stop them, or they know and they don't care, in which case we're still the good guys here," Dean said. "But, thinking about it, they must be the latter, right? I mean, they hole up in the perfect place to get all the sport they need once a month. That can't be just coincidence."

"Be nicer if it was, so, yeah, you're probably right," Adrian said with a rueful smile.

"Well, the locals are talking about wolves, found some paw prints and such like," Will added. "It's only the lupe garou that turn completely into wolves. Standards just get the teeth and claws, normally."

"So we'll have to avoid everyone while we're there. No telling who goes furry when the moon goes down."

"Alright, so how about we head out tomorrow?" Sara said. "Get to this place, try and be subtle, see how it goes?"

The boys all nodded.

"We're going to have to be careful," Dean said. "I mean, if they're all garou, we're fighting wolves with the intelligence of humans."

"We'll need silver bullets for the rifle, as well," Sara said.

"Ah, you just want to see Caleb again," Adrian said, smiling.

Sara shoved him off the deck's railing as Will started laughing. "Hey, bro, it's not her fault if years hanging around us has caused a catastrophic lowering in her standards."

"Don't call Caleb a 'catastrophic lowering in my standards'," Sara said, but she was grinning. "God, I hate being the only girl you guys ever talk to."

Dean smirked as the two brothers started up almost identical sounds of protest. When his phone rang, tinny rock strains barely audible over the squabbling, he fished it out of his pocket and hopped down from the deck.

"Hello?" he said, walking away from the house.

"Dean? Where are you?"

That was his dad, of course. Always with the business. "Black Earth, the Atwoods' place. We've been working on a hunt."

"All four of you?"

"Yeah, Sara has this thing against walking into Hell alone. You ok?"

"I'm fine. Can your hunt wait a few days?"

Dean frowned. "Yeah, I guess. You want my help?"

"Feel like a little insurance might be a good thing on this one. Bring Sara."

"Uh, sure. We'll be there tomorrow evening. Dad, what's going on?"

"I might have a lead on the demon that killed your mother."


	2. Chapter 2

xxx

"So what's the demon?"

Dean glanced over at Sara, who was leaning against the Impala. "You what?" That wasn't normally a conversation Sara would start outside a rest stop just outside Elmira, New York State.

"Thirteen hour drive in two shifts and you still haven't found the time to tell me what's so big and scary that John Winchester himself asks for help," she said calmly.

"My patience quota for the month was fulfilled by Will's song and dance routine, so I'm afraid I just have to ask."

"I'm not sure what's going on," he said finally. "Dad just wants us there as backup, that's all he told me."

Sara nodded slowly. "Right. Anytime you wanna tell me the rest, I'd love to hear it."

"Sara..."

"Nah, it's cool. I'm just holding onto my right to say 'I told you so' when something goes wrong."

He managed to grin at that. "Well, we'll be there soon. Dad wouldn't drag us in to a warzone without at least giving us a chance to load up first. He'll tell us what we need to know."

"Yeah, but that'll never be enough to answer all my questions."

"Probably not, Sara, but it'll be enough to keep us alive. Now, let's get going. We still need to find the right bar."

xxx

The bar, it turned out, was a tiny little place, tucked well out of sight, but John's truck was parked outside, complete with John himself leaning against it.

Dean nodded in greeting, trying very hard not to look as if he was mindlessly relieved to see his Dad was as fine as he ever was. Hunting was a dangerous profession after all, especially when you were working solo.

"Hey, Dad," he said, sliding out of the Impala.

"Dean, Sara," John replied. "You made good time."

"Advantage of having a co-pilot," Dean said. "So what's going on?"

"Guy in there," John jerked his head towards the bar. "Has a way to get the information I need on this demon or whatever it is. Some ritual or some such."

"So where do we come in?" Sara said, tucking a knife out of sight at the back of her waist. "Your winning personality's not enough to convince the guy to help?"

"Partly. He needs a second person for the ritual, someone with... the right sort of skills."

"You mean like, resistance? Little bit of psychic in their blood-line, that kinda thing?" Dean said, grinning.

"Figures. You guys only ever want me for my profession," Sara mock-grumbled. "Really, I'm hurt."

"Dean, I need you as backup, in case this guy doesn't hold up his end of the bargain."

Dean nodded. He'd figured as much.

"What is the bargain?" Sara asked. "What's this guy of yours getting out of this?"

"Don't worry about that," John said smoothly. "It's nothing too drastic, I promise."

"Oh, very reassuring." Sara checked her revolver. "What's this chap's name?"

"Li. And he wants to talk to you alone."

"Whoa, Dad, are we sure about this?"

"She'll be okay. He's not a killer."

"And I'm not defenceless," the girl in question added. "You hear screaming, come give me a hand, okay?"

Dean nodded, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "Be careful."

"Hey, it's me we're talking about. The calm, stable one, remember?"

When Dean rolled his eyes, Sara took it as permission and headed for the bar's door. The sign over the bar said Eurydice, and despite the 'closed' sign pinned to the door, the door itself wasn't locked, so Sara pushed it open.

"Hello?" she called.

It reminded her a bit of the Roadhouse, the same lived-in, somewhat secretive air. Mind you, she'd only ever visited the Roadhouse once, but Sara was willing to swear that this place was cleaner. Certainly was emptier.

"Li? Look, I'm not in the mood to be messed around, okay?" Sara said. "And leaving me near a bar full of spirits without proper supervision is not going to end well."

"I'm here."

Sara turned to face the speaker, who was sitting on a stage at the far end of the room. "Li? I'm Sara Lucian. John said you needed to talk to me 'bout some hoodoo."

The man hopped down from the stage, placing a guitar to one side. "Wow. Look at you. All grown up."

"'Scuse me?"

"How old are you now? Twenty-two?"

"Twenty-three," Sara corrected, still staring at the guitar. "Um, this place yours?"

"Yeah. Bought it a few years back. Been working here for a while before that."

"As a musician or..."

"Mostly as a musician, yeah. But occasionally, I help out guys like John Winchester."

"How?"

"Bobby Singer calls me a 'Deathwalker'. It's a little comic-booky but it kinda sums it up. I can walk into Hell."

Sara nodded slowly. "You mean like, across the River Styx?"

"How'd you know about that?"

"Went there once, few years back."

Li's eyebrows really couldn't go any higher. "Why?"

"Doesn't matter. Is it the same thing or not?"

"Yeah, it is, but... Sara, you can't just wander over to the River Styx for every little thing. You have to understand that."

"It wasn't little thing. I'm not a rookie, you know. I know how dangerous is it to muck around with stuff like that," Sara said calmly. "Then how does this thing work? I mean, did you just wake up and waltz into Hades by mistake?"

"Runs in families. Average human can't make it even to the banks of the River Styx. Where I come from, it was a lot more common. My dad taught me how to do it. What?"

Sara smiled slightly. "It's just... it always runs in families, doesn't it? The Winchesters, the Atwoods, even me. All just carrying the burdens of our forefathers."

"Not that you're bitter or anything."

"Made my peace with what I am a long time ago, Li. As, I suspect, did you."

"You have no idea, little girl."

"Leave off the little. I can't help my height." Sara was grinning though. A couple of years with Dean as her best friend had made her fairly immune to taunts about her gender, height or hair colour. "And what kinda name is Li? Must be short for something."

"Liam? Lionel?" Li offered. "Normally the first guesses."

Sara paused. "Lionel?" she murmured.

"What was his name?" she had asked.

"Uh... Li. He called himself Li. Never did ask what it was short for. Lionel, I suppose," her mother had replied.

"No way," she said, shaking her head. "God, I am such an idiot! She always said I knew how to use my eyes and ears, but not my brain to connect the two."

"Sara-"

"Am I right? God, tell me I'm wrong. Please."

"Amelia said she'd never tell you who I was. I thought you wouldn't know, that's the only reason I agreed to let him bring you here!"

"Oh, so you can know who I am but I'm not allowed to be told that I'm working with my own father! Not helping, mate!" Sara paused again. "When did Mum tell you that I wasn't allowed to know you?"

"About once a year," Li replied, slumping back onto the edge of the stage. "She'd talk about you, show me pictures. I haven't seen you face to face since you were about two."

"We've met?" Another pause. "What the hell do you mean, once a year?"

Li frowned. "What? Oh, shit..."

"Yes, exactly. Good grief, can you actually prove a single damn thing that you're saying?"

"Yeah, actually I can. Like I said, I got pictures, some bits and pieces Amelia left. I know you were named after Sara Crewe, 'cause Little Princess was her favourite book. I know that you were seeing a weapon's dealer for more than shotgun shells. I know you hunt with John Winchester's boy and Amelia was frantic because she didn't trust his father not to use either of you when it suited him, but she knew that if she didn't let you, you'd never forgive her."

Sara smiled, totally lacking humour. "Smart woman, my mum. Alright. Tell me. Tell me all of it."

xxx

Sitting on the Impala, Dean started jiggling his knees. "Dad, she's been in there for almost an hour," he said.

"She's fine, Dean. Trust me, this guy wouldn't hurt her," John replied.

"How do you know that?"

The door of Eurydice banged open and Sara came storming out. Dean's smile faded when he saw the expression on her face.

John had spotted it too. "Sara?" he asked, moving towards her.

"Stay the hell away from me, Winchester!"

"I need you to do this."

"That is so typical of you, John!" Sara yelled. "How long have you known? How long?"

"I figured it out years ago. So could you, if you'd just put your mind to it."

"No, I couldn't because I don't sneak around behind people's backs and then manipulate them when it suits me. You think so little of me?" Sara smiled, backing away from the two Winchesters. "Fine. Deal with this without me."

"Sara?" Dean called. "Sara!"

"Go after her."

Dean looked back to his father. "Dad, what just happened?"

"Just go talk to her. Get her back here to do that ritual."

People often thought that Dean just followed his father's orders blindly. That was certainly what Sammy had appeared to think. But that wasn't always the case. Yeah, Dean would on occasion follow orders. Most of the time, though, Dean was going to do whatever it was anyway. You know, kill the bad guy, protect Sammy. Go after Sara.

He nodded once, and took off after his friend.

xxx

Elmira wasn't a tiny town, and it wasn't one that Dean had ever been to before, but he knew Sara. He kept walking until he found a park, the expanse of green found in just about every grey American town. Sara had changed quite a bit in the years since the two of them had met, but some things were still the same. Like Sara's love for open space.

And, just like he'd thought, he found her sitting under a tree far enough into the park that you weren't smacked in the face by all the concrete. Her backpack was by her side, one strap hooked around her arm because Sara guarded that bag almost as much as Dean guarded the Impala. For once, the bag wasn't too shabby; the old one had given up the ghost a fortnight earlier and Sara hadn't had time to bash this one about properly yet.

"You wanna stare at something, go to a museum," Sara said finally, looking up at him.

"Just waiting for you to say 'I told you so'," he replied.

"I think we've got a little bit past that stage, Deanie-freak."

"So what's going on? What's my dad done this time?" Dean slumped down by Sara's side. "Come on, it can't be worse than that time when he-"

"Li is my father."

Dean paused, mentally replaying that sentence. Yep, definitely hadn't heard that right. "You what?"

Sara shrugged. "Li, the man that John just wanted us to meet for the hell of it, is my father. And John knew and he didn't say a damn thing."

"Well, maybe the guy's bullshitting you. I mean, what are the odds of just running into your father?"

"Yeah, we covered that." Sara handed over a photo. It showed a young Amelia with a little kid in her arms. Standing next to her was a man with reddish-gold hair. "And just in case that's not enough..." She pulled her bag open and slipped a much smaller photo out of her diary, handing it over.

Dean held the two photos side-by-side, and it was easy to see how the second had been trimmed to cut Li out of it entirely.

"Gran gave that to me," Sara said softly. "Now, either he's really my father or he managed to copy a photo I haven't shown to anyone since I was nine. And then there's this."

He reached over and traded the two photos for the ring Sara was holding out. It was old gold, he thought, with little chips of blue and clear crystals, in little groups of blue-white-blue all the way around. "Significance?"

"It was Gran's. She never took it off, not till she died, and then my mum took it to remember her by." Sara took the ring back, idly rubbing it between her fingers. "And if this is some sort of con, then someone put a hell of a lot of effort into it. This tallies with every I know about my father, Dean. All mum ever told me was that he was called Li and he was musical, that he wasn't a Hunter per se, that they met in America. I mean, I'm still left with the question of why Mum never told me that they stayed together, or why she wanted to keep us apart in the first place, but the rest all adds up."

"Okay, so Li's your dad. Hate to sound all insensitive, but isn't that a good thing?"

"Not when I wasn't meant to figure it out. John knew, Dean, and he wasn't going to tell me. Remember his bargain? It was me. He got me here, and Li got to see me, but neither of them were planning on actually telling me. And that's just... Fuck, I don't know what that is."

And Dean didn't either. He had no idea how what to say, or how to deal with that, so instead he stuck to what he knew. "Dad still wants you to do the ritual."

"Oh, because I owe him so damn much," Sara snapped, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Come on, Dean, it's just a hunt. Can't we just leave him to it?"

The truth was important to Sara, probably because she got so little of it in her life. And it never failed to amuse Dean how her mother and grandmother could manage to screw her over so completely even from beyond the grave. He'd always tried to be honest with her. Time to try a little harder.

"It's not just another hunt," he said slowly. "It's... the hunt. Li might be able to help us find the demon that killed my mom."

Sara stopped spinning the ring around her finger. "Your mom? Shit, Dean, I didn't know. I thought... I thought you were like me. Hunting just 'cause that's what your family does."

"Well, it is what my family does," Dean said. "But it wasn't always. Mom died when I was four, Dad started hunting a year after."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well... Look, Dad's been hunting that demon for twenty years. This is the first time he's ever said he had a lead."

Sara looked at him for a long moment, and Dean had no idea what she was seeing, but it seemed to work. "Okay."

"What?"

"I said, okay. I'll do it."

"Really?"

"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely," Sara said teasingly, pulling herself back to her feet. But the mood only lasted for a moment. "What do I do, Dean? About Li?"

Dean shrugged. "Well, guy must be pretty special, to keep your mom with him for all those years. Not to mention patient," he added and spotted the half-smile on Sara's face, and decided to risk something. "I always thought you didn't care about your dad."

"Yeah, well, it was easier. Come on, let's get back before my urge to punch John becomes uncontrollable."

xxx

Li wasn't sure about this.

Not about getting Sara involved, because he knew that Sara had been involved since birth. Hell, he'd met Amelia when she chased a possessed host through the bar he was working in, and he'd known about demons and goblins long before that. When Amelia had seen what he could do, when she'd told him all about her family and her duty, and asked him for a child to continue the line, he'd known exactly what he'd been letting that little boy or girl in for.

He wished, occasionally, that he'd been more worked up about that. But Li had always understood the deal. The Lucians got their new warrior to train and curse in equal measure. And he got Amelia. It had always seemed fair.

And he seen, through the photos Amelia showed him, through the stories she told him, his little girl grow up. Bit by bit, like growth spurts. He'd seen the worry on Amelia's face grow as well, heard the furious phone calls to her mother. Later, he'd heard the less furious and more frantic calls to Sara as his daughter started hunting with a level of skill and devotion that unnerved Li as much as it had Amelia.

Now, though, seeing Sara walk back across the car park with Dean by the side, seeing the way she moved like the hundreds of Hunters Li had seen in his life, he wasn't so sure about this.

After some heated exchange with John, the most audible part of which was "It's a bloody good thing Dean's here, then, isn't it, you sanctimonious bastard?", Sara came back into Eurydice. 

"So," she said. "How do we do this?"

The door opened again and Dean came in, with John just behind him. Li had always been curious about the Winchesters, always wondering if people really were as untrustworthy as Amelia nearly always made them out to be. John still hadn't grown on him, but he spotted the way that Dean moved closer to Sara.

"Well, it's not a spectator sport," Li said firmly. "And it's not something that you're ever going to mention again, John, understood?"

"Got it," John replied easily.

"Alright. Come on, Sara. Let's introduce you to your other legacy."

And Li didn't miss the way that Dean didn't relax until Sara almost imperceptibly nodded at him.

xxx  
As always, reviews would be highly appreciated. Hopefully the next chapter will be up in five days or so.


	3. Chapter 3

3xxx  
"You know, I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this every time," Sara said, lacing silver charms around her wrists. "Jumping into rivers?"

"Well, technically any body of water will do," Li said, passing her a stone pendent to hang around her neck. "How did you know what to do?"

"Found the words in Mum's diaries. The rest of it... I just knew." She shrugged. "Wasn't half surprised when it worked."

They walked together towards the river's edge. Fortunately, it was late enough that no one was around. A pair jumping into the river and apparently disappearing would only cause trouble in the long run, after all.

"When did you go?"

"Right after Mum died. She... she didn't die peacefully, and there was nothing left to bury. So I went to pay her fare, get her to that eternal rest she always believed in."

"The whole two coins thing... that's a pretty ancient belief."

"Yeah, Greek, apparently. Just always felt right."

"Well, guess blood really will out. My family's Greek."

"Huh. Always pegged you for an American."

"Might as well be," Li said. "Alright, now when we get in there, I'm going to head across with Charon. I need you to stay on the bank, okay, help guide me back."

"So I just have to stand there?"

"Yeah, but the longer you stand there, the more... creatures will be alerted to your presence. I'll be as quick as I can, but the odds are that you'll have to fight something."

"Don't worry about that. I know how to deal with demons." The statement was definitely reinforced by the sword Sara had retrieved from the Impala's trunk and strapped to her belt.

"Just be careful, alright? You die and I think that Dean guy will castrate me."

"Why'd you tell John not to talk about this?" Sara asked. "Is this another Purge deal?"

"Huh?"

"Uh, hunters ganging up on anything that's even slightly not-human. It happened in England at some point, most of the exorcists and psychics died."

"Yeah, that's a pretty good way of explaining it. Some Hunters care about stuff like that more'n others, and some will want you to pull off this trick for every little situation that they come up with. Keep quiet about it, and don't use it more than you have to," Li said, then grinned. "What can I say, kid? You were cursed good and proper." He offered his hand. "Ready?"

"Do you ever listen to yourself?" Sara said, taking his hand. "Born ready, mate."

It had been almost two years since Sara had done this last, but the basic principles were, well, basic enough. Run and jump into the river...

And land on the banks of the River Styx.

"This place doesn't change, does it?"

Li smiled. "Not for three thousand years. Least, that's what Charon says."

"Nice guy," Sara said. "Uh, Li? I'm little old for you to hold my hand."

"Right, sorry," Li said, hastily dropping her hand. "Um, we just need to find... him."

The boat hadn't changed either since the last time Sara had been here, still the same untrustworthy lump of grey wood.

"Li!" Charon said, grinning. "Found your lost minion, I see."

"Charon," Li replied. "Don't antagonise Sara. Remember what happened with Amelia?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, where will it be today, Li? Elysium Fields, visit your little brother?"

"Nah. Hades, my good man."

Charon blinked. "Kid's first time this side of the water, you want to take her to Hades?"

"Sara's not coming. Just staying here to guide me back."

"Dangerous job," Charon said.

"Perfect for a girl like me then," Sara commented. "I'll be fine. Li, how about you move this along?"

"I'll be as quick as I can," he promised, stepping into the battered grey boat.

Sara stood, watching as Charon expertly directed the boat out across the River. You couldn't see much of the River Styx itself and the boat quickly vanished into the fog.

Only a few hours after she'd met her father and he was already walking into hell, Sara realised with a crooked smile. Wasn't that just typical?

xxx

Dean idly tapped out a beat on the grimy bar. He was never good at just waiting, never had been. Always fiddling, taking something apart, putting it back together, always moving. He was a nightmare on a stakeout, John remembered. Mind you, when his boys had been too little to help, Dean had always managed to keep Sammy amused as well.

"Relax, Dean," John said. "She'll be fine."

"Course she will. She always is." Dean stopped tapping. "Dad, did you know about Li?"

"Yeah."

Dean nodded. " So why didn't you tell Sara?"

"Amelia thought it was safer if Sara didn't know." That only got a slight chuckle from Dean and John raised his eyebrows at the boy. "What?"

"It's just… Amelia thought it was safer if we both left Sara alone."

Which was also true. Very true, and Amelia had made that clear to John many times. Dean had been ignoring that particular view of Amelia's for years, ever since he'd met Sara, however. But that wasn't the point. John knew that.

"We need her help with this. I wouldn't get her involved otherwise, and as soon as she's done, she'll be out of it again."

"You really think Li's going to find something out with this crazy ritual?"

"Takes a demon to know a demon, maybe. Li can walk into the afterlife, maybe find someone who knows something."

"And if he doesn't?"

John didn't answer. He wasn't sure there was an answer.

xxx

Sara's watch had freaked out when she'd reached the River Styx. It was stuck on eleven o'clock, a fact which Sara was trying to ignore. The universe always did have a sick sense of humour, and it would be just like it to leave her getting twitchy and worked up over nothing.

Despite Li's warnings, she had yet to see a single demon. Had yet to see anything, really. The ghosts waiting for passage across the River were just faint wisps of smoke, blurred human forms at best and mere clouds at worse. They were all speaking, though, all muttering and calling out, their voices drifting in and out of hearing. Kids crying for their mothers, snatches of conversations, some pleading. It wasn't especially heartbreaking, nor creepy enough to weird Sara out completely, but after a while she realised she was singing under her breath, snatches of Iron Maiden, Blue Oyster Cult, even a few hymns she remembered from her distant church-going days. She never forgot the words to any song that she liked enough to listen to the words of.

That must come from Li, that ability to memorise words and tunes easy as breathing. Her mother had had a good singing voice as well, not that Sara had heard it much. But when she was very little, sometimes Amelia had phoned, right before Sara went to bed, and she'd sing to her. It wasn't some lullaby, not the sort of thing that you'd normally sing to a seven year old, but Sara had loved it. Still remembered it, although she'd tried not to think about it for the last two years.

Just like she'd been trying not to think about her mother at all since she'd heard the term deathwalker. Someone who could walk into the afterlife and come back often as they liked was one thing, a pretty huge thing, especially with the anniversary of her mother's death less than a month away. Finding out that maybe she could do the same thing…

Li had said this deathwalker thing ran in families, and Charon had said something about it, first time she'd come here, something about her not having to wait her turn to cross the River. And her mother was somewhere on the other side. Wasn't that always what people wanted? To get a chance to say all the things that were left unsaid, all that Hallmark crap. And, yeah, Sara was tempted a little. Okay, a lot. A hell of a lot. But what good would it do? The only things she wanted to say to her mother were either too late ("I don't blame you," being at the top of the list, and just a little bit untrue) or would open up a can of worms Sara had long decided to leave alone ("Why did you kill yourself?" being the most terrifying thought Sara had ever had).

So she was really glad that Charon and his boat weren't close by, as trying to swim the Styx could only end really badly. Sara would just sit on the extremely uncomfortable rock she'd found and the moment Li came back, she'd go back to Dean and then they could head over to Wyoming and kill some werewolves.

"Mommy? Mommy, I don't wanna go-"

"Not like I meant to hurt her-"

"Dudes, would you shut it already?" Sara muttered, leaning her sword against the rock as she sat down. "I'm trying to watch for demons here, you know."

The ghosts or souls or whatever the hell they were didn't shut up, and Sara just rolled her eyes and tried to ignore them. She knew the legends about the afterlife, knew loads of them, most of which contradicted some of the others. The Greeks believed that you had to pay a fare to cross the Styx into the afterlife, whichever part of it you deserved to go to. If you couldn't pay, or hadn't been buried properly, you had to wait for maybe a hundred years. Long of time to just sit around and wait.

The constant whispering and muttering had become little more than background noise when she heard splashing from the river. She stood up, took a few cautious steps forward to the edge of the river. Sara knew about as much about boats as she did about happy-ever-afters, but the splashing seemed a little… frantic.

She grabbed the sword. Walking into Hell wasn't a problem, but walking out of Hell was bound to piss someone off. Demons weren't good at letting go. And any demon worth its salt wouldn't just chase the escapee. They'd try to loop around, cut off his escape.

By the time Charon's boat was just visible through the mist, Sara could hear the demons, their footfalls telling her that this must be the honest-to-god hellhounds. She couldn't help a smile as the first approached. It was butt-ugly, it skin mottled red-black and eyes full of flames.

A bullet through its head did sod-all and Sara dived to the side as it jumped, rolling back to impale the thing with the sword. As it howled, she jumped back to her feet and beheaded the creature. Good God, she loved this weapon.

"Hurry it up!" she yelled out to the boat. It was closing fast, but not fast enough because she could see more of the ugly pooches coming her way.

As the boat hit the bank, Sara pulled out a bottle of holy water and lobbed it at the approaching hellhounds. The glass bottle shattered, spraying holy water all over the demons, just as Li leapt out of the boat.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the bank. It was easy enough for a living person to leave this place, just took a little desire to get home and a decent idea of what 'home' meant. With one hand holding the sword and the other being held by Li, Sara didn't have a hand free to grab her pendent. But she could feel it, bumping against her chest.

The ground under their feet switched from the dusty stone of the River Styx to brownish-green grass and Li stopped running.

"Can those things follow us?" Sara demanded.

Li shook his head. "Not to this spot, but we should head back to the bar. It'll be safer."

"Yeah," Sara said. "Liking that plan."

xxx

When they reached the bar, Sara headed for the Impala, opening the trunk and tucking the sword away again.

"You and this Dean boy," Li said and trailed off.

Sara grinned. She'd heard that enough times before to know exactly what he meant, but she'd take her chuckles where she could. "Me and that Dean boy what?"

"Are you…" Again, Li trailed off.

"If you can't ask the question, you don't deserve the answer," Sara said, shutting the trunk and turning to face him. "We're friends. That's all. And I don't need another protective male in my life. I've got enough of those already."

"Well, what happens now?"

"You tell John whatever it is that you learnt on your little escapade, I go to Wyoming to help out some of my protective males. Look, Li, I don't wanna be the one to say it, okay? Can't we just… not make a big thing out of this?"

He smiled slightly. "I'm not the one who freaked out earlier."

"No offence, but that was more about that fact that a man who I have to trust with my life was lying to me in a potentially dangerous situation." Sara shrugged.

"You're still my daughter."

"And you're twenty-odd years late if you want to play that card. Now, can we please just go talk to the Winchesters before I start hurling insults like this is a cheap soap-opera?"

Li shook his head, but it was more in defeat than in disagreement, and walked to Eurydice's door. John and Dean were both by the bar, John on a barstool and Dean actually sitting on the bar itself.

"Nice trip?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, shut it, Winchester," Sara replied, but she was smiling as well. "I got to see hellhounds."

"Really?"

John cleared his throat. "Dean, you and Sara-"

The cell phone in Sara's pocket rang suddenly. With a shrug of apology, Sara turned away and answered. "Lucian."

"You and Sara can head off now," John finished.

"Dad?"

"He's right," Li added. "I didn't find out anything concrete and I know you two are needed elsewhere."

"Yeah, we are," Sara said, snapping the phone shut and putting it away. Her voice shook.

"Sara, what is it?" Dean asked.

"That was Bobby. We… we made a huge mistake. We need to go, right now." She was rubbing her pendant again, one thumb tracing the spiral inwards. "Will and Adrian aren't hunting werewolves, they've walked into a den of skinwalkers."

"Skinwalkers? As in the creatures who eat a family member to be able to shape-shift?" Dean said. "Shit! They don't even rely on any cycle to transform, they can do it anytime."

"Bobby can't reach either of them."

"They're there already?"

"Would've got there before we got here. They set out way before us, remember?"

"It's gonna take us, what, a day to get there? Shit, is that enough?"

"It'll have to be. We can't fly out, we need the weapons."

They'd both completely forgotten the two men, and Dean only glanced around once when they walking toward the door. John nodded quickly, got an answering nod in return, and then the two were gone.

John waited until he heard the Impala pull away before turning back to Li, who looked decidedly worried.

"Think they'll be ok?" Li asked, eyes still on the door.

"I don't know what they do to the demons," John said. "But they can scare the shit out of me. They'll be ok." He waited a moment, considering, then ploughed on. "Why did you lie to them?"

Li smirked. "Winchester, Amelia wanted her daughter as far away from you as possible, and right now I can see why."

"That… That doesn't really answer my question."

"This demon of yours? Pretty much the original nasty-son-a-of-bitch. And as there is no way in hell that I can persuade you to leave this alone, I want Sara out of it, understood?"

"She doesn't exactly follow my orders, you know."

"No, but she'll go where Dean leads. If he's out of it, so is she. And you were going to send that boy away before I even opened my mouth, so I don't see how you can object."

"I'll do my best."

"Thank you. Now, about your demon…" Li hopped over the bar and produced a bottle of whiskey, pouring out two shots. "Uh, it did the whole flame-and-cradle thing twenty or twenty-five years before it came after you and your family. Did it again before that, same sort of time period. Quite a few families each time. I seriously doubt you're the only guy who went through it this time, either."

John nodded slowly. "Anything special happen to the families afterwards?"

"Uh, something weird seems to have happened to the child who was… present when the flames started. And, no, I couldn't get a better description, but I know that the demon was interested in those kids. Like, he'd invested in them or something."

"So why are you so worked up about this demon? Plenty of them are serial killers, plenty of them are obsessed with screwing humans around."

Li poured another shot, downing it instantly. "Yeah, but you've managed to get to the attention of a Lord of Hell."

"What?"

"Demonic hierarchy, you know? Hell Lords are like Archangels, just on the other side. Really nasty, and they tend to have their own armies."

John nodded again, just as slow. "Don't suppose these things have names?"

"Yeah. It's Azazel."

xxx

Next chapter will hopefully be up in five days or so. Any reviews would be hugely appreciated. Come on, guy, don't make me beg. )


	4. Chapter 4

4xxx

Dean had managed to go cross-county in only a day or two, once he had even had to get coast-to-coast with people's lives on the line. It was doable, provided he had the Impala. Wasn't easy, not even with two drivers switching in and out, but it was doable.

One drove while the other slept. It was the only way to make it to Wyoming in anything approaching reasonable time, and neither Dean nor Sara could even consider stopping for more than the time it took to fill up the car. The only even vaguely good thing about this situation was that skinwalkers could be killed with anything, blades, regular bullets, it didn't matter what, and so they had more than enough weaponry to take care of whatever was waiting for them.

Sara was pale, tight-lipped. The Atwoods were, after all, her family. Dean had got to know the brothers pretty well, admittedly, and he didn't want to see either of them hurt any more than Sara did. They were good Hunters and, beyond that, they'd looked out for Sara since they'd met her, which was plenty to get Dean on their side. And even apart from all that, Will and Adrian were Hunters. Hunters watched out for Hunters, and if Bobby wasn't laid up with a broken ankle courtesy of a poltergeist, the older man would already be there.

They were only about four hours out from the town where they'd been planning to meet up with the Atwoods, stopping for a moment for Dean to get fuel and food, when Sara's phone rang. Dean looked over, worried, barely before she'd managed to pull the phone back out of her pocket.

"Lucian," she said, looking back at Dean. "Yeah, that's me." After a few very long moments, Sara closed her eyes for a second in relief. "Where? Memorial Hospital? Yeah, I'm only a few hours away. Is he-? His brother was supposed to be with him. I see. Uh, thanks."

"They got one of them?"

"Someone found Adrian by the side of the road, out in the hills," Sara said, nodding. "He's in bad shape. Hasn't woken up. And there's no sign of Will."

"We'll find him. Come on, we're almost there."

xxx

'In bad shape' turned out to be a supposedly-nice way of saying 'mauled to within an inch of his life, not to mention enough blood-loss to fell a lesser man'.

There was a reason Dean hated hospitals, and that sort of miscommunication was only the start. Getting from NYS to Wyoming in so short a space of time hadn't done anything for his temper, and the way Sara was jiggling where she sat and spinning her grandmother's ring around her finger because no one would just tell what the hell was going on wasn't helping much either.

But finally a doctor complete with spotless white coat came over, smiling in a way which Dean could recognise as meaning he had predominately bad news.

Dean was spot on. He hung back a little, keeping an eye on Sara, while this Doctor Alexis gave her the news about Adrian. Wild animal attack, apparently, heavy blood loss, bound to be some scarring and they were still waiting for him to regain consciousness. Sara nodded, calm in the way that only someone who couldn't afford to break down could pull off.

When the doctor had finished saying everything he needed to, Dean managed to find out where Adrian had been found with a few basic questions, stepping forward to stand close behind Sara. With a location in mind and one Atwood safe in the hospital, Dean and Sara headed out.

It was easy enough to find the spot where Adrian had been found; the doctor gave good directions. Dean didn't miss the fact that they were close to the area that Will had outlined in his research, and he was willing to bet that Sara had spotted that same thing.

"Sara, you with me?" he asked as they got out of the car.

"Yeah." Sara leant against the car. "So, what do you think? How should we do this?"

Dean gave his plan a final once over in his mind before speaking. "Move as quickly as possible. Find Will, get the hell out of here. Kill any coyote we see, but we don't hunt 'em down 'less they're in our way."

Sara nodded. "Rifles or shotguns?"

"One of each. You take the shotgun."

They each had their own pump-action shotgun, but Dean knew Sara preferred them, despite the fact that she was a crack-shot with a rifle. He'd started handling shotguns and rifles before he hit double-figures, so it was no-never-mind to him. Besides, each of them would also have a knife and a handgun.

"When we find Will, I am going to forbid any of you to go anywhere near woods and hills ever again," Dean grumbled half-heatedly.

"Their house is practically in a forest," Sara said, tucking spare ammo for her revolver into her pockets.

"Well…They can move."

"But then I'd have to move all my stuff as well," she replied, perfectly reasonable.

They were good at this, casual words in serious situations, and Dean was so ridiculously relieved that Sara was there with him to say those casual words. Last time he'd been under this kinda pressure, it had been Sara who was missing and her mother had died on that hunt. Hell, a minute change of detail and Sara would've walked into the same shit as the Atwoods.

But Sara being safe didn't mean that Will was, and it some way it was a mercy that Adrian was still unconscious, because Dean would rather face all the skinwalkers in the entire goddamn country alone than have to tell Adrian that his kid brother was missing. Dean pulled two flashlights out of the trunk and slammed it shut.

They had hunting to do.

xxx

Normally, you screwed up on a hunt and you were dead. That's why Will was so obsessed with details and patterns. Scientia potentia est, after all. And it seemed completely and utterly unfair that this hunt had gone wrong during the fact-finding stage, not the actual violent bit.

Although there had been plenty of violence the last two days. Will's left leg was a eye-watering lump of agony, red hot pain spiking from half-way down his thigh. His foot could be missing for all he knew; everything below that focal point of pain was just a blur.

Goddamn it, he wanted his big brother.

No, that's not quite right. He wanted to be wherever Adrian was now, not for Adrian to be here. An odd point, possibly, at least until you know that Will was in a fucking cave surrounded by evil skinwalkers.

But if Adrian wasn't here, then it might be ok. Not right now, of course, but it might at some currently unforeseen point in the future be ok again. To become a skinwalker, you had to eat part of a family member, preferably a sibling. And Will didn't care if these little fuckers thought he'd be a good candidate to add to their numbers, there was no way in hell he was going to take a chunk out of Adrian.

Of course, none of those mystical texts and reams of lore said anything about the aforementioned eating having to be voluntary, which was the reason why Will had shoved his brother down a hill. His leg had got mangled practically before they knew what they were up against, and there was no way for Adrian to get them both out of there safe and sound, not with Will being unable to walk or even hop.

So he did the decent thing, knocking Adrian literally off balance and down a hill, and then shot the first skinwalker he saw approaching. The second had got close enough to kick his bad leg hard enough to make Will white-out on the whole situation. Next thing he knew, he was in this cave with his eyesight bleary from pain, but he had yet to eat his brother, and that was good enough. Not that he'd object to the cavalry turning up anytime soon, of course.

Will could hear the skinwalkers, moving around, talking to each other. They were looking for Adrian. Well, good luck to them. Even cut and bloodied, Will's big brother was more than a match for uppity shapeshifters, and he must have been smart enough to go for help. Please, God.

His father had always told Will that you couldn't pray with a shopping list. Couldn't ask for specifics, as it were. Peace on Earth was meant for all and so on. But Will always figured that God had to listen to someone praying, begging, pleading for a loved one. Sometimes, after all, you started off with the things close to your heart and then worried about others. Just human nature. So he shut his eyes against the tears he couldn't be bothered to control and prayed.

Let him be alright. Please, God, let him be alright. 

xxx

Bobby had once said that Dean had the Devil's own luck. Dean would disagree. While, most of the time, his luck was as good as a demon at screwing him over, sometimes it was just the opposite. It was more annoying than the devil, really. At least demons were consistently shitty.

Thankfully, this hunt was falling into the latter category. Will's notions about where the nest would be turned out to be almost spot on, which both explained why Adrian was in such bad shape and why only one of them had made it back to town. The skinwalkers – and Dean knew they were skinwalkers, why else would humans by wearing animal skins and little else in Wyoming – seemed to have settled in a cave which Dean could easily see from his current position.

A call to Bobby while still on the road had confirmed that while skinwalkers would hunt and live in packs, there would never be more than a dozen of the things in any one place. The things were apparently fond of their space, to say the least. They'd found three dead skinwalkers, one of which Sara was prepared to bet had been killed by Will for some reason, so they had a maximum of nine left to deal with. Might all be in there, might not be. Any which were in there were going to die. Well, all but one. They needed that one to tell them where Will was, with or without some violent persuasion.

Dean edged back slowly so he could look at Sara, who nodded slowly at his unasked question. His father's marine training had resulted, many years down the line, in Dean's knowledge of military hand-signs, and Dean had spent some time passing that knowledge onto Sara. It was easy to lay out a plan, another bonus of a former-Marine for a father, and easy to communicate it to Sara.

Surprise, aggression, speed. Awesome combination at any time, but especially right now. The skinwalkers were most likely a bit edgy, having just had two hunters drop in on them, and there was a most decidedly edgy lookout crouched by the entrance of the cave. Dean grinned, tapped Sara on the shoulder. When she nodded, he raised the rifle, taking careful aim.

The scout dropped, hole clear through his forehead.

There's nothing quite like shooting someone to get people's attention and three more skinwalkers dashed out of the cave. Idiotic move, but it allowed Dean to shoot all of them as well, so he was complaining too much.

"Go. Go!" Dean ordered.

The two of them moved forward. Another skinwalker ran out of the cave, only to fall back with a chest full of buckshot. Dean had switched to his pistol and put a bullet through the thing's head, just to be sure. Swinging around, he shot another two, one through the head and one through the throat, before a third slammed into him and sent him flying.

He heard another shotgun blast when he hit the floor, the skinwalker landing on top of him. Dean used his forearm to stop the creature ripping his throat out and his knees to press the skinwalker up enough that he could twist the pistol round and shoot it in the gut until he could shove it away.

When nothing moved or attacked him, Dean stood up and quickly counted the bodies. Added to the ones they'd found on the way here, it made a round dozen dead skinwalkers. Quick, clean, no major injuries. Just the way he liked it. With a glance at Sara, which got him a small answering smile to the unasked question, Dean pulled out his flashlight.

He stepped forward, leading Sara deeper in to the cave. It stank of rotten meat and blood.

"Guess they don't just eat their own siblings," he said, wrinkling his nose. That really was foul.

Sara snorted, either in agreement or in disgust, and she was starting to look a little green.

When they finally found Will, though, that shade of green faded right away. Sara was naturally pale at the best of time. The fact that Will looked even whiter was more of a concern for Dean, to be honest.

"Hey! Hey, buddy, you with me?" Dean asked.

He didn't get a reply. But then, with Will's leg looking like that, he didn't exactly expect one.

"Got a pulse," Sara said. "Looks like the skinwalkers stopped the bleeding." She touched a rough bandage. "Didn't want him to die. Why wouldn't they want him to die?"

Dean shrugged. "We need to get him out of here, now. Good thing he's a skinny bastard. I can carry him." He held out his rifle; he'd need both his hands free. When Sara didn't take it, he flicked her arm, hard, with his free hand. "Stay focused, Sara. We're almost done."

Sara took the rifle from his hands, strapping it across her back, before reloading her shotgun with hands that shook.

Dean carefully slung Will over his shoulder. Moving him like this wasn't Dean's first choice, but he seriously doubted that he could do any more damage to that leg. Assuming they made it back to civilisation, Dean was prepared to bet that Will's hunting days were well and truly over. Judging from Sara's expression, she was thinking the same thing.

But first things first. Will could deal with his newfound retirement once he was safe.

xxx

Doctor Alexis looked surprised, to say the least, when Dean and Sara reappeared in Memorial Hospital with the missing William Atwood. The thought of the expression on that man's face was enough to make Dean grin, and God knew he needed a reason to smile at the moment.

Mind you, at least no one was dead. That was also a pretty good reason.

Dean's opinion of Will's leg had been pretty much spot-on. If the guy was lucky, he'd be able to eventually walk with just a cane. Breaking that news to Adrian had actually been way more difficult, and the guy had moped around for three days straight after recovering from his blood-loss before Dean had done everyone a favour and dragged him off to a local bar. The evening ended with the two of them trying to kick the shit out of each other, but sometimes that was a good thing.

So Adrian was doing better. Will, oddly enough, seemed to be the guy who had the least problems with his current situation. Dean knew that he'd never be able to handle something like this if it had happened to him. Or to Sammy.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when Sara shoved a cup of coffee under his nose and flopped down into the chair next to him. They'd spent most of the last week in the hospital, waiting for the doctors and the Atwoods to sort everything out and figure out what to do next.

"Heard from your dad?" Sara asked, sipping her own drink. Tea, of course. She loathed coffee.

Dean nodded. "Says he's sorry 'bout Will. He's got another hunt lined up, asked me if we wanted it. Something in Athens, Ohio."

"What did you say?"

"Said we'd hunt again when this was dealt with and he said he'd take the monster." Dean nudged her. "We can be a civil family, you know. How's Will?"

"Docs are talking about physical therapy, and going slow and not pushing himself, but he's okay. Miraculously."

"He told me yesterday that out of all us, he's the best one to have to suffer this," Dean said.

Sara smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like Will. To be honest, he's been waiting for something like this to happen. Peter Atwood, their father, he had to quit hunting in his twenties because he lost one of his eyes."

"What did he do when he couldn't hunt?" Dean asked, honestly curious. The idea of an after hunting fascinated him, mostly because he wasn't sure he believed in it.

"Became a priest."

"Huh." Dean shot Sara a sideways look and asked a question that had previously come exclusively from Sara. "Heard from your dad?"

"Nope. And he's not my dad, Dean, just a…"

"Sperm donor?" Dean offered.

"Something like that. He wants to talk to me, he can find me easily enough."

"He seemed ok."

"You think? You didn't…"

"Didn't what?"

"Li just…" Sara paused again, trying to sort it out in her mind. "He felt wrong."

"Like, evil wrong?"

"No, like… weird wrong. Not bad, but different. Like my gran. Mind you, that might be why I'm so cautious 'bout him," she added, only half-joking. Her grandmother might have done a good job of preparing Sara for this life, but she'd also managed to screw Sara over more than once.

"Might be the whole ritual-deathwalker thing he has working for him," Dean offered, shrugging.

"Maybe."

"So what else is bugging you?"

Sara smiled, not even bothering to deny it. "Adrian's asked me to go back to Black Earth with him and Will next week. He wants me to stay until things are settled, till Will's adapted."

"Yeah, I thought he might do that," Dean said.

"You and Adrian… You're so damn similar, you know? Adrian can't stay still for much longer, or he'll flip, and leaving Will alone right now seems a little harsh."

Dean nodded. Sara was right about Adrian; Dean recognised the signs of a twitchy hunter, mostly because he was suffering the same thing. If Sara did this, he'd keep hunting alone.

"How long?" he asked.

"Month. Maybe a month and a half."

Shit. That was a lot longer that he'd anticipated. And Dean hated working alone, and he knew that Sara knew that. If he said so, he knew she'd come with him. But the Atwoods had helped Sara for years, and it was partially Dean's fault that this had happened. If they'd stuck to the plan, Will and Adrian would've had Dean and Sara there as backup from the start of the hunt, and Will wouldn't have been stuck alone for two days in a cave with monsters as his leg was irreparably damaged.

Sara was watching him carefully. She knew him well enough that he didn't try to bullshit her either. Like that whole thing with Li had proven, Sara only cared about the truth. Well, the truth and her boys.

"It's okay," he said. "I'll swing by between hunts, give you guys a hand. If you want."

Sara nodded. "Yeah."

"And, you know, when Will's sorted and stuff, you call me. We'll head off again. Plenty of things left to kill out there."

That made Sara grin, and Dean was willing to bet that it wasn't the promise of violence that did it.

He left Wyoming for Ohio the next day, music playing loud and passenger seat empty. But that didn't bug him too much. It'd be full again soon enough. And Dean could live with that.

xxx

The final chapter should be up in less than a week. Huge thanks to Helenahandcart for reviewing.


	5. Chapter 5

5xxx  
Black Earth, Wisconsin,  
12th October 2004,

Seven weeks after the accident, and things were almost back to normal in the Atwood house. Admittedly, Adrian had installed some nice thick handrails for all the stairs in the house, even the one to Sara's room in the attic and Will never went up there, and Will now hit people with his cane when he was tetchy, but at least Will seemed happy.

Which meant Sara was now a free woman again. She'd been the one to get Will to his physical therapist, to yell at Adrian, to buy the goddamn groceries because Will hadn't been comfortable driving again yet. She knew Dean didn't quite get how Adrian could have spent so much of that first month on the other side of the country, but Sara had spent enough time feeling guilty about letting people down to be able to get it totally. Besides, Dean had also kept his distance out of his guilt, but his guilt was tied tightly into his relief that it hadn't been his little brother who had been hurt.

But, whatever. The two males had gotten over their guilt, Will was fine, if permanently limping, and Dean would be arriving later that day to pick Sara up. She couldn't wait to get back on the road, if only to distract herself from her current project.

Li. Her father. Or, as he appeared on paper, Linus Butler, successful entrepreneur who had owned his own bar, the Eurydice in Elmira, NYS.

Sara pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. It was covered in her own untidy handwriting, a consolidation of all the information about Li she'd managed to dig up from her mother's journals and diaries. It wasn't a lot; Amelia had always been quite closed-mouthed about anything that wasn't a demon. At the bottom were the few things Will had managed to find for her.

The only really good thing to come out of the accident was the Hub. Will had spent most of his free time planning this computer system, something that could manage to hack all the police networks and so on. Hell, Will had always been destined to be a tracker, and it was just like an Atwood to create what he needed to do his job well. It was going to take months to finish, but he'd started. And the first thing he'd done with the first prototype was research Sara's own father. Yeah, no guilt there.

She'd told Dean – told everyone, for that matter – that she didn't care if Li was in her life or not. But the guy could still be used against her, or even use her himself, and Sara was sick of being kept in the dark. Another advantage of Will's newfound project: news of the fire in a bar in Elmira had been easily found. A complete lack of anything resembling a lead on Li had been quick to follow. Figured.

But then, if she was as… wrong as that guy, she wouldn't want Hunters knowing where she was either. She hadn't told anyone about the deathwalker thing being genetic, and had no intention of doing so. Didn't matter; Sara also had no intention of going anywhere near the River Styx for a very long time.

Sara slowly walked back to the house. Dean was on his way over. After seven weeks and only one quick hunt, an exorcism that she couldn't possibly ignore, she was more than ready to get back on the road.

The familiar rumble of the Impala caught her attention, and she turned on the porch steps, grinning. The black car slide to a halt by the house, Dean swinging the door open with a grin of his own.

"Heard there might be someone here looking for work," he said.

"Depends," Sara replied easily. "Got anything fun lined up?"

"Haunted house in Dallas. Or there's… nah, that's pretty much it. Haunted house."

"Hm. Might have to do better than that, Deanie-freak."

He raised one eyebrow. "You got a better idea?"

"Well, Will's finally started his supercomputer. Already managed to find his way to all sorts of nifty facts. Such as the fact that little Sasquatch is about to move into an apartment with a girl called Jessica Moore."

"Really?"

Sara smiled at the happiness she could hear. "Yep. And, you know, it would only be polite to head over there. Congratulate him. Or, at least, break into the building and put down some protection. Whatever. I'm neutral about the little details."

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. So I take it Will is ready to limp on his own two feet?"

"He says he's fine. Asked me yesterday when I was going to get out of his hair."

"And I won't have to duel Adrian to get you as my partner?"

Sara shrugged. "If you really want to, I can probably arrange it, but it's not necessary. Adrian wishes to be only accountable for his own safety, a view he is currently demonstrating by refusing to talk about hunting with either his brother or myself. Don't worry; Will's planning to thrash him with that very attractive cane of his until he grows up."

"Might take a while."

"Well, that's the rather nice thing here. They've got time."

"Guess they do." Dean smiled. "So… California?"

xxx

Sara had headed upstairs to grab her stuff and Dean left her to it, instead going through the kitchen to the basement door. From a certain point of view, of course Will had to set up his little system in the basement. It was the only place that had room, among other things.

Then again, this did mean that Will had to make his way down some seriously narrow, steep steps with a cane and a limp. Dean nearly cracked his head open on the way down; he definitely didn't envy Will.

"Oi, boy genius," he said as he reached the bottom.

Will was sitting at the work-surface that now ran around the edge of the room. What looked like half a dozen computers, some in pieces, were arranged around the room. He looked up at Dean's call and grinned.

"Ah, my resident delinquent. Here to pick up Sara or should I start charging you rent?"

"We'll be gone soon enough," Dean promised. "How are you doing?"

"Do you want me to walk about a bit for you, let you see the limp? Or you could come over here, admire my mighty-fine cane."

"Okay, dumb question. Sorry."

"I stick by what I said in the hospital. I'm okay with this. Not great, but… okay. Better me than him, and I know you understand that."

Dean nodded. He did. He really did. "Do you want me to find Adrian, beat some sense into him?"

"I can't fight demons anymore, but I can deal with my own brother," Will said, chuckling a little. "Any idea where you and Sara will be heading?"

"Cali. Check on Sam's new place. Then, maybe Dallas, standard haunting."

"Alright then. Well, while you're on your psychotic journey, mind giving me an opportunity or two to test my new system?" Will waved one hand expansively. "From this basement, Master Winchester, I will soon be able to access any piece of information a Hunter may require!"

Dean snorted at the sheer pomposity. "I thought you could do that already."

"Yeah, pretty much. But this is only the beginning. Adrian's put me in contact with another geek, guy called Ash. Together, we're going to work on a way to erase all traces of Hunters in police databases, newspaper reports, all of it. We lose enough people to the monsters. We don't need the cops thinning our numbers."

"And if you thin the reports enough, they'll never be able to put together a pattern. That's an awesome idea. Can you do it?"

"Maybe. About time we found out, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Also gives you a reason to keep me around. Sara doesn't have a criminal record to cover up."

"Well, technically, neither do I. "

"Technically? Lot of implication in that word, Will," Dean said, grinning, as he headed back to the stairs. "See you later, man."

"Dean, I didn't wanna ask before, but now I kinda need to know. This thing with your dad and Sara's dad and all the rest of it. Was it worth it?"

"Dad said Li didn't get anything useful." Dean shrugged. That was all John had said, and Dean wasn't up for arguing with his father. That had always been Sammy's job, after all. "Don't know how far I believe that. But it wasn't worth it either way."

"Will whatever it was hurt Sara or get her in some sort of trouble?"

"Aside from her dad disappearing on her again? No. I won't let it. I swear to you, man."

"I'll hold you to that."

Dean nodded. He didn't expect anything less.

xxx

Palo Alto, California

Stanford Campus,

"You know, I always liked fire escapes," Sara said, leaning against the thin metal railing.

Dean didn't look round; he was trying to jimmy one of the windows open.

"They make it so easy to sneak into the apartments of loved ones. Or, the loved ones of team members, at any rate," she continued.

"Hey, you were the one who suggested this little trip. Hah, got it," he said, pushing the window open and putting the knife away.

"Winchesters… Always with the big gestures," Sara muttered as Dean helped her through the window.

"And what is that supposed to mean, my little freak?"

"Less of the little," Sara said as she pulled chalk and sage out of her backpack. "Nice place. Sasquatch must be doing well for himself."

"Yeah. Him and this Jessica chick are due to move in the day after tomorrow." Dean was methodically scanning each part of the apartment with his EMF detector. Sammy wasn't an idiot, and had most likely checked into the building pretty thoroughly, but it never hurt to double-check, after all. "She is human, right?"

"Well, I spilled a whole glass of holy water on her, and all I got in return was an apology."

"An apology? I thought saying sorry when other people walked into you was purely an English thing."

"Either way, I think it shows good taste in the littlest Winchester. Plus, she's blonde."

Dean snapped the EMF off. "Apartment seems clean as well."

"Good. Pastor Jim smuggled me another jar of chrism oil, so the anointing is a doddle. Set up the sage in each room, we'll be done in half an hour, max."

"Sara?"

"Hm?"

"You sure you wanna be here? Doing this?"

"Well, I know me and the walking enigma haven't always got along, but-"

"You know that's not what I meant."

She turned around. "Oh. You know, Dean, if you preferred working alone or something-"

"No! No, but… You know it, same as me. Will got off easy. I mean, this life… What if Sammy did the right thing, leaving, I mean?"

"Dude, what happened to you these last two months? 'Cause the Dean Winchester I know is about as likely to quit hunting as he is to sell the Impala for scrap." Sara paused. "But that's not what you meant, is it? You're never going to stop, not even if you kill the thing that took your mother, but somehow you think I'm going to? Jesus!"

She unscrewed the jar of chrism oil, starting work on one of the windows, all the while muttering angrily under her breath.

"I'm sorry," Dean said. "I don't mean to… I just don't want you hurt. And maybe your mom was right about my family. Maybe we are bad news."

"If your family's bad news, mine's not any better. Mum's got me so confused I can hardly tell whether I miss her or not and my dad took off after just meeting me once."

"So you don't ever wonder what it'd be like if we weren't working together?"

"What's the point? We are. Aren't we?"

"Yes! Of course we are, Sara."

"Dean, I don't know where this is coming from, Will's current situation aside, but I wouldn't be any safer if I was hunting with someone else or by myself. There's no such thing as 'out of harm's way' for a Hunter. We're always in harm's way. And I'd rather not be there by myself, if it's all the same to you."

"Maybe you don't have to hunt."

"Alright, if you channel my mother one more time, I'm going to… do something! Probably something to the car! Are we very clear?"

Dean blinked. "Yeah."

"Good. Now, you said you had an idea about making the symbols more permanent?"

"Yeah, I did." He opened the duffel, pulled out a can of spray-paint. "Bigger's better, right?"

"Just keep telling yourself that." Sara glanced over to see Dean start to spray the right symbol on the wall. "Tell me Sasquatch didn't decorate this place already," she said.

Dean shrugged. The top of the symbol was just about level with the top of his head. "Ah, he'll get over it."

"When? Before or after the fratricide?"

"You said he was okay with this."

"No, I said he was okay with me being subtle. This is very far from subtle, you know."

"Subtlety is overrated. Now, come on. You gonna help me or not?"

xxx

"John, it's Li. I did what you asked, took a second trip to Hades. Can't believe you bought that bullshit about me needing Sara to pull that off. But still, thanks for getting her to Elmira, I appreciate it. I meant what I said. I want her out of it. Now, just so you don't come looking for me, I'll tell you what I learnt: your demon is still a nasty son of a bitch. But there was way more activity this time then there was three months ago. Don't know why, don't much care. I got out of there in one piece, so the demon's not totally active, but it won't be long. Maybe two years, if you're really lucky, so knowing you, it's probably more like one. Do yourself a favour and drop this. I'm not helping you again, so don't look for me. And leave my kid alone."

John hit the right button to delete the message and tossed his phone aside. He hadn't honestly expected Li to come up with anything new, although he was surprised that he had even agreed to try again in the first place. But if the demon was starting to wake up or get twitchy or whatever it was that happening, well, that could only be a good thing. When it came out of hiding, John would be able to find it. And once he'd found it, he could kill it.

Anyone else would be slightly unnerved by the idea of trying to take down a Lord of Hell, John supposed. But then, anyone else wouldn't have blackmailed a musician into walking into Hell in the first place. And a demon was just a demon, and demons could be killed. It might take time, might take a few risks or a miracle or two, but it could be done.

Then, just maybe, John could rest. Just maybe.

xxx

Thus concludes Sins of the Father. Dean and Sara will return soon, with their own host of secondary characters, in Cum Grano Salis when a trip to a seemingly idyllic village will lead to unforeseen consequences.

Reviews are, as always, hugely appreciated.


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